blog posts in environment
11/24/2008 • comments ()
kevin morgan's angel stones
Posted by Zadi Diaz


I met artist Kevin Morgan in Venice Beach while on a photo shoot with the Bui Brothers. We gravitated toward his freestanding rock sculptures from far away wondering if they were people. Once in close range, we realized what they were and Kevin was kind enough to share the backstory.

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08/30/2008 • comments ()
how to have a green plastic-free picnic
Posted by Zadi Diaz

Labor Day weekend is in full-effect in the United States, which means hordes of people will be making their way to their favorite park or beach for their annual holiday picnic.

In honor of our continuing and expanded 7 Days without Plastic project, I thought it would be interesting to figure out a way to have a plastic-free picnic or barbecue. Now, I'm not saying that this is the easiest of tasks -- but let's see if it can be done.

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08/24/2008 • comments ()
7 days w/o plastic: advice from ryanishungry.com
Posted by Zadi Diaz


Ryanne Hodson from ryanishungry.com supplied me with some basic important tips to keep in mind during my plastic-free week. I wanted to share her pointers with all of you.

The main point, and one that I found to be especially true is that my main plastic in-take came from food that was packaged in plastic containers. Avoiding these were difficult but surprisingly doable, especially if you're buying fresh food, which is ultimately better for your body.

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08/22/2008 • comments ()
7 days w/o plastic: second day
Posted by Zadi Diaz


So, my seven day adventure officially ended yesterday... and I'm only now catching up on the entire experience. I say "officially" because I'm actually going to continue this. I think seven days is a great start, but in order to get a real assessment of the scope of the project it has to last a bit longer so that you can see how you'll react when you come across certain situations that you may not encounter in those first seven days.

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08/15/2008 • comments ()
introducing paco, my 7 days w/o plastic cohort!
Posted by Zadi Diaz

Find more videos like this on MIX


There are some people who are doing this project along with me. Paco is one of them. He even made an entire blog documenting his experience.

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08/15/2008 • comments ()
day 1 recap, starting day 2: seven days w/o plastic
Posted by Zadi Diaz

day one recap: seven days w/o plastic from Zadi Diaz on Vimeo.


So yesterday went fairly well, didn't take in much new plastic into my life except for the two unsuspecting condiment containers that came with my lunch. I have to remember to make sure to ask for no straws, etc. Those kinds of things just pop up without warning. Made me aware that there are many small plastic items that add up in the end.

The most embarrassing moment? Buying a dress and having to ask the attendant if they had paper bags -- otherwise I wouldn't be able to buy the dress. I of course said it was for a project... what can I say? I was afraid she would think I was completely nuts. Surprisingly, she completely dug what I was doing. Whew.

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08/14/2008 • comments ()
day one: seven days w/o plastic
Posted by Zadi Diaz


And so it begins -- my foray into the land of the plastic-free. I have to admit that I really have no idea what to expect other than to expect to encounter plastic everywhere. For instance just this morning I thought, what happens if I cut myself? I can't use a band-aid? That's insane! What am I thinking?

But that's really not the point of this project. There is good plastic -- like bike helmets and band-aids, and there's bad plastic, the disposable kind -- like cups, utensils, and containers.

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08/07/2008 • comments ()
7 days without plastic
Posted by Zadi Diaz

Can I go a week without using any new plastic?

Our interview with Sustainable Dave made us start thinking about how much plastic we use and throw away each day. We wanted to know exactly how hard it would be to change our habits. So starting Thursday, August 14th, I'm attempting to go seven full days without using any new plastic at all.

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08/07/2008 • comments ()
fu of the week: crimanimalz
Posted by Zadi Diaz

If you saw a bunch of bicyclists zipping past you on the highway, what would you think? Well, if I were stuck in traffic, as is usually the case in a car culture town like Los Angeles, I would think "I bet if I were riding a bike, I'd be home by now." That would probably be true -- and that is exactly the kind of thought that Crimanimalz wants floating through your head.

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07/07/2008 • comments ()
water-powered car? not so fast.
Posted by Steve Woolf

On the show this week we talk about a bunch of responses we got to the Tesla episode where we talked to Elon Musk. A couple of weeks ago a company called Genepax introduced an eco-friendly car that ran on nothing but water.

Wait, what?

Yes, you heard right. A car that runs on water. Not only that, they claimed that you could put just about any water-based liquid in the tank and it would work. They claimed it was run by an energy generator that extracted the hydrogen from the water placed into the tank.

Too good to be true? Lots of people far more knowledgeable than me seem to think so.

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06/10/2008 • comments ()
amazing bicycle parking tower in tokyo
Posted by Steve Woolf

This amazing facility is definitely designed with the future in mind. Tokyo is a very crowded, bustling city, and it seems like real thought has gone into designing a long-term plan for people who use alternate forms of travel.

We've gotten to know a few hardcore bike enthusiasts here in Los Angeles, but I wonder why nothing like this has ever been conceived for LA or New York City. Bikes are great exercise and (obviously) zero carbon emissions vehicles. Let's see some innovative facilities in our major cities here in the U.S., please!

04/22/2008 • comments ()
flock offers eco-friendly browser
Posted by Rick Rey
Flock browser: Eco-edition

Firefox spinoff Flock calls itself the "social web browser" because of its tight-knit integration with social websites like Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. The new Eco-Edition comes pre-loaded with a lovely green theme and self-updating content from environmentally-focused blogs and media sources from all over the web.

Flock Eco-Edition is a free download, and Flock has pledged to donate 10% of search proceeds to an environmental charity chosen by the Flock community.

(via Drew Olanoff)

04/04/2008 • comments ()
365 days of trash
Posted by Steve Woolf
IMG_2287

Reblogged from Rick's blog:

Dave Chamdeides is just over 90 days into a year-long project to store all of his trash in his own basement.

From Dave's frequently asked questions:

Why are you doing this? Did you lose a bet or something?
Actually believe it or not, this was an idea that a friend and I came up with (although it is hardly a unique one) that I really wanted to try. We were talking about the idea of throwing things "away" and how "away" is just that, somewhere other than here. It occurred to us that it is easy to waste because we are not confronted with that waste since it goes "away" and then began to wonder how our choices would differ if we had to keep everything in a pile in the backyard. So the idea is to keep everything for a year and in doing so, be able to see how much waste I create and how much I can avoid.

[ Via: [Via OMGRick] ]

tags: environment
03/28/2008 • comments ()
march 29th 8pm: earth hour
Posted by Zadi Diaz


On Saturday March 29th at 8pm over 200 cities around the world will participate in earth hour - a global movement symbolizing the need to take action against global warming. World Wildlife Fund is working with city governments, power companies and large corporations to raise awareness and turn off major landmarks in each of their regions. Last year 2100 corporations and over 2 million people in Sydney, Australia joined the movement resulting in a 10% energy reduction in the city.

Whether or not you believe global warming is man-made, an hour of complete darkness might be really fun. So go ahead and unplug -- take a break. Think about how many fun things you can do in the dark! :)

02/11/2008 • comments ()
greener gadgets competition
Posted by Steve Woolf

The quite awesome Core77 industrial design blog held The Greener Gadgets Design Competition this month as part of the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City.

I almost majored in Industrial Design at Pratt Institute during my college days (I wound up majoring in Painting), so I have always been appreciative of elegantly designed everyday objects. These designs take things a step further, because they are made to be sustainable and eco-conscious from the ground up.

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tags: design
01/31/2008 • comments ()
can you live in a tiny house?
Posted by Zadi Diaz


Jay Shafer takes you inside his tiny 100 square foot home. Since 1997 he's been living in a house smaller than most people's closets. I don't think I'll ever complain about a small apartment again.

Jay talks about his reasons behind designing these tiny homes, which are mostly environmental... though he does mention that he doesn't like vacuuming. :)

tags: green, video